Lagos To Acquire Over 200 Compactor Trucks For Waste Evacuation

The Lagos State Government says it is set to acquire more than 200 new compactor trucks to improve waste collection and evacuation across the state.

Deputy Governor Kadri Obafemi Hamzat disclosed this on Saturday while monitoring the monthly environmental sanitation exercise in Festac Town, Amuwo-Odofin Local Government Area, alongside his wife, Oluremi, and other government officials.

Hamzat urged residents to patronise only registered Private Sector Participation (PSP) waste operators and desist from using cart pushers, warning that improperly disposed waste could end up in drainage channels and worsen flooding.

“What we need our people to also do is to make sure that they patronise their PSP, not the cart pushers. Because those are not organised. You don’t know where it’s ending up, okay? But the PSP will take it to the landfills. The cart pushers, we don’t know. It might even be in the canals,” he said.

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“And that’s the encouragement that we’re giving our citizens to make sure that you play your role, to make sure that that garbage doesn’t end up in a canal and therefore lead to flooding”, Hamzat added.

The Deputy Governor said the monthly sanitation exercise was aimed at promoting a culture of environmental responsibility among residents, stressing that “we cannot be a people without a healthy environment”.

Also speaking during the exercise, Commissioner for the Environment and Water Resources, Tokunbo Wahab, said the state was taking measures to address waste accumulation on road medians and improve waste management.

Wahab, who was accompanied by the Special Adviser on the Environment, Kunle Rotimi-Akodu, said the situation was improving, with emergency teams operating round the clock while efforts were also underway to rehabilitate landfills and dumpsites.

He said the government would continue engaging PSP operators and intervene where necessary to improve their services, expressing optimism that better service delivery would encourage more residents to pay their waste bills and sustain the operators.

On the activities of cart pushers, Wahab said the government was engaging them but warned against measures that could create further problems.

“But we don’t want to say because we’re in a situation, we take steps that will come to harm us later in life. Most of these cart pushers, ask yourself, where is that waste usually dumped? Drainage, medians, and so on.

“In addition to that, security findings have also shown that most of them are also part of those gangs that are involved in cutting metals and doing all sorts. We can’t go that route”, Wahab reiterated.

Meanwhile, Head of Service Olabode Agoro led another team of government officials to Bariga Local Council Development Area to monitor the sanitation exercise.

Agoro, represented by the Permanent Secretary in the Public Service Office, Sunkanmi Oyegbola, urged residents to take greater responsibility for maintaining clean surroundings and warned that individuals and establishments violating environmental laws would face sanctions.

He said government could not achieve a cleaner and healthier Lagos without the active participation of residents, adding that officials were taking part in the exercise to lead by example.

Agoro also urged Lagos residents to make environmental cleanliness a daily responsibility rather than waiting until the last Saturday of every month before cleaning their surroundings.